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Sunday, 18 June 2017

LIGHT NOT DARKNESS ...

There has been a lot of violence and tragedy in the UK in recent weeks, culminating in the horrific fire in a London tower block. At times like these people who pray (like me) can feel overwhelmed by darkness and forget to see the beauty of love and heroism shown in the responses of ordinary people. I needed to remind myself to actively look for those things and not ever to keep my focus only on the heartbreaking facts.

I often say that my backgrounds are never fancy, so I took a picture of this one to prove the point. It is just orange acrylic splodged (technical term) on with a brush, and then when it was drying I used a baby wipe to take off some of the paint. Its easy and gives an interesting effect. I chose the colour simply because I knew I was going to say something about choosing light over darkness, so it had to be something light and bright.

My head was all over the place, so I was completely operating on instinct, which resulted in some (unusual for me) blocky shapes, a bit Mondrianesque even?

Sorry about the next picture which wasn't taken in the best of lights. It shows how my normal way of working reasserted itself even if I am usually more inclined to work in dots and circles more than squares and rectangle. The Modigliani lady represents me thinking, praying and pondering ... looking for light in the darkness.You can see how a grey shadow around her lifts the image off the page.

Then finally I found the words I was looking for, after all my desperate prayers for peace and healing were offered and heard ...

Its what we all need, perhaps, time out to become calm and still. To look for the good and the hand of God in all things, and to reassert that the light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has not nor ever will overcome it.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

As a Christian I agree with your comments and how hard it can be. I am also using journalling to deal with how I feel and I like your page enormously particularly for the difficult things it expresses. Thank you

I just discovered your blog and think I will spend days here. Amazing work. My heart breaks for the your citizens. My grandmother was born in Manchester as well as one uncle and two aunts so the tragedy of the UK hit me hard even though my mother was born in the US. Very hard to wrap your head around what is going on in the world now. As a Christian in times like this I find myself questioning my faith as my head goes right to "why would God allow people to kill other people because of their race, religion or sexual choice." But we have to hold on and hope in the end it will pass, these monsters will as my grandson said disappear off the face of the earth. Will keep you and the UK in my thoughts. Now onto your project...love it. Everything about it. The subject matter, the colors and the lady are perfect.

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Hello from me

A BIT ABOUT ME

I live in the UK and am "retired" early through disability (Fibromyalgia and Psoriatic Arthritis). Yet these health problems have given me an opportunity to explore my creativity, and Art journals are among my favourite things to make. I'm gradually exploring the whole world of mixed media and restoring my soul doing so! For me making art is a healing process which grows my dented self-esteem, and even more so when I share what I've learned along the way. This therapeutic aspect is something I am trying to communicate with others who need to know about it ... and the people who do keep on finding me! My goal is to give away myself and my art as generously as I can, which I see as an expression of my role as a (very) part-time Priest in the Church of England.